It's not worth sacrificing the integrity of the combat systems for a fake 'power fantasy'

Look, in PoE 1 (and every previous Exile-like ARPG in history) the combat was not particularly good. You didn't lose much by erasing the majority of the combat mechanics and interactions by making enemies have super low life and super high damage.

But PoE 2 is different. The combat is excellent, it's really fun. One of GGG's goals should be to maintain the integrity of that combat system for as long as they can.

Yes, most players will still grind by going to tiers they've outscaled and deleting it. That's fine. That's how these games work.

Yes, eventually your character will be powerful enough to trivialize all content in the entire game. That's fine. That's how these games work.

But GGG should be trying to ensure that the very fun combat of the first 3 acts remains intact as long as they can. The scaling in a game like Elden Ring doesn't start to go wonky until the end of the campaign. But the campaign IS the game in Elden Ring. In PoE 2 the campaign is the tutorial, and the game is maps. There should always be fun, interactive combat you can engage with until your build is powerful enough to crush T15s.

To me, instadeleting stuff in the current endgame doesn't feel like a power fantasy. It feels hollow, because I know that GGG just made so that enemies have extremely low life vs expected player damage. They decided to make the enemies incredibly squishy, so I delete them, so that means I'm supposed to feel powerful? No. Deleting squishy enemies doesn't make me feel powerful, I know they were made squishy on purpose! It's a mirage of power, not real power.

What makes me feel powerful is my character becoming more powerful, and trivializing content which used to be challenging for me. My numbers go up, I go on to challenge higher tiers, I trivially farm tiers that used to be a challenge. That is the power fantasy. Whether I'm blowing up large packs or small packs doesn't matter. The only thing the changes in pack size and monster life do is make the combat less interactive and less enjoyable.

I had a sinking pit in my stomach as I reached endgame absolutely annihilating everything, trivialized the final boss, and found out that maps felt like PoE 1. It felt like a bait and switch.

The reason a1-3 feels like that is because you have no gear and next to no choice on what skill gems and support you use. How do you propose they reduce the zoom once the skills aren’t being withheld?

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The reason a1-3 feels like that is because you have no gear and next to no choice on what skill gems and support you use. How do you propose they reduce the zoom once the skills aren’t being withheld?

By rebalancing the endgame so that there's less pack size, and enemies have more life as you go up in zone level.

They balance how the game and combat feel at every point in the game. They chose the current game feel on purpose and could choose a different one. The power of item mods vs the rate that enemies scale is entirely under their control.

Edit: A word.

maybe dont make a meta build that literally everyone else is playing coz its overpowered and you will get that gameplay you want?

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maybe dont make a meta build that literally everyone else is playing coz its overpowered and you will get that gameplay you want?

I started on gemling mace, and I've made a poison bow pathfinder and an SSF sorcerer crossbow character. I haven't followed anyone's builds or suggestions whatsoever. I've been self-found for all items without completing a single in-person trade (although I've used the currency market for the non SSF characters).

It's literally impossible to get the gameplay I want in the game's current endgame. It does not exist. It is gone.

Enemies have too little HP and deal too much damage, and pack size is too high. The only possible way to engage with the game is to blow up packs. It's trivial to get enough damage to do so and it's incredibly difficult to get enough defenses to be legitimately tanky. All players are forced into having bad combat on purpose.

Less pack size in the campaign? It already has really low pack size and way to slow movement with a janky doge roll. It is already really uninteresting and slow, what do you propose, just delete the game rather than try and make it more interesting? Campaign might be ok if they actually did make it more interesting. As it is now it is just a slow slog. Do that crap every 4 months? Nope.

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Less pack size in the campaign? It already has really low pack size and way to slow movement with a janky doge roll. It is already really uninteresting and slow, what do you propose, just delete the game rather than try and make it more interesting? Campaign might be ok if they actually did make it more interesting. As it is now it is just a slow slog. Do that crap every 4 months? Nope.

It's weird how people are trying to gaslight players into believing they didn't enjoy the combat they were playing. The entire gaming community's response to PoE 2 is due to how good the campaign combat is.

Endgame combat is pretty brainless. You barely have to pay attention until you randomly get deleted. That is boring because you aren't making decisions and interacting with the enemies.

If you don't like engaging combat and you want to mindlessly blow stuff up, PoE 1 exists and does it much better than PoE 2 does.

And no, the first 3 acts are great overall. Less pack size in the endgame.

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Gilvado#3954 wrote:

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maybe dont make a meta build that literally everyone else is playing coz its overpowered and you will get that gameplay you want?

I started on gemling mace, and I've made a poison bow pathfinder and an SSF sorcerer crossbow character. I haven't followed anyone's builds or suggestions whatsoever. I've been self-found for all items without completing a single in-person trade (although I've used the currency market for the non SSF characters).

It's literally impossible to get the gameplay I want in the game's current endgame. It does not exist. It is gone.

Enemies have too little HP and deal too much damage, and pack size is too high. The only possible way to engage with the game is to blow up packs. It's trivial to get enough damage to do so and it's incredibly difficult to get enough defenses to be legitimately tanky. All players are forced into having bad combat on purpose.

i think its just impossible to get the gameplay you want in general , from all you said so far , you want a game that poe never was , if anything no rest for the wicked fits what you like .

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i think its just impossible to get the gameplay you want in general , from all you said so far , you want a game that poe never was , if anything no rest for the wicked fits what you like .

I want the game that PoE 2 literally is during the campaign. I want the game to not change identity partway through the way it does. That's the most reasonable, rational, straightforward request you could make.

No Rest for the Wicked doesn't feel like a Diablo-like/Exile-like ARPG to me. PoE 2 does. No Rest for the Wicked is not a replacement for PoE 2 in any way.

heavily nerf all broken builds, nerf aoe skills, nerf damage, reduce packsize, remove oneshots
=> balance droprates not based on broken builds, but on average
=> good gameplay, good eco, good game